Jury Orders Bayer to Pay Rice Farmers $48 Million

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.A Lonoke County Circuit Court jury ordered Bayer CropScience to pay a group of 14 Arkansas farmers $6 million in compensatory damages and another $42 million in punitive damages for losses when Bayers experimental variety of genetically modified rice, Liberty Link, was found in the commercial rice supply.

Bayer has lost three suits over the past five months; more trials are expected on the horizon. Rice farmers in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas filed lawsuits against Bayer faces judgments of $4.5 million so far in the three cases it lost.

A statement issued by Bayer CropScience said the company plans to appeal the verdict.